PHOTOGRAPHY AMY LAUFFER NEFF - WORDS MAISIE JANE DANIELS
With February 9th marking a year since the release of Featherweight, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Rosie Frater-Taylor returns with Featherweight (Deluxe Edition) - a deeper, more intimate exploration of her distinct sonic world. From brand-spanking-new tracks, including a jazz-infused, laid-back reimagining of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill and the heart-wrenching folk melodies of In a Dream, Rosie invites you into a space where intricate arrangements meet soulful emotion. Warm acoustic guitars, delicate percussion, and her signature ethereal vocals stitch together to create something truly memorable.
From accidental mullet-esque hair that left no room for, well, mulling over... to the creative process behind this reworked collection, 2024 has been a year of transformation for Rosie. F Word chatted with Rosie to dive into her journey so far, and captured the exciting talent in an intimate shoot with photographer Amy Lauffer Neff.
Maisie Daniels: Hey Rosie, welcome to F Word Magazine! What’s been the highlight of 2025 for you so far?
Rosie Frater-Taylor: One-month in, I’d have to say the accidental mullet-esque hair-cut I received last week! I’ve unexpectedly fallen in love with it!
MD: Love that! You’re an incredibly captivating instrumentalist. When did you first pick up the guitar, and what drew you to this particular instrument?
RFT: Why thank you! I picked up the guitar two decades ago now. I’ve got a musical family (my dad’s a drummer and my mum’s a singer) so I had lots of instruments to dip my toe into around the house. I started learning drums for a year prior, then I feel like I was drawn to the more varied, ‘front-person’ role the guitar has to offer, no doubt my obsession with School Of Rock had something to do with it! I sang and played in my first ever kid-band ‘Flamin’ Hot’ when I was 8 (I wrote all the songs too including smash hit ‘You Don’t Wanna Go Near A Frightening Wolf’).
MD: When did you first become aware of this beautiful voice of yours?
RFT: I’ve always adored songwriting but I didn’t sing in the same obsessive way that I practiced the guitar, not until I started demoing my original songs as a teen. I realised you can do a lot with your voice in a recording context to achieve different ends / moods. Creating backing vocals, layered vocals, and vocal percussion is one of my favourite parts of the production process.
Singing has always felt like a natural extension of my guitar soloing too. It makes sense to me to sing what I play because my goal is to improvise melodically, and honestly, to avoid any pre-planned licks or gobbledygook. Singing helps me do that.
MD: We can’t do this interview without talking about the release of Featherweight (Deluxe Edition)—congratulations! It’s such a powerful and heartfelt body of work. What inspired you to create a deluxe edition? Was that always the plan?
RFT: I’m glad you think so. It’s close to my heart for sure. Some of the mixing and production work was pretty painstaking in retrospect! I’m such a perfectionist and I wanted to give people a glimpse into some alternative versions of the songs - the acoustic versions, live versions and demos have such a different character to the finals! I think fans can resonate with the vulnerability of revealing that (lengthy) process… So yes, I guess it was always the plan to ‘let folks in’.
MD: You’ve released this almost a year after the original album. How do you feel your music has evolved since then?
RFT: February 9th will be the one year anniversary indeed! I feel my music has more confidence in itself than ever before. I'm learning to embrace every direction and creative inclination... I'm also desperate for jazz fusion to make a comeback! I think live gigs will be key for artists over the next decade to combat the rise of AI in recorded music - I love hearing folks be virtuosos and witness sheer talent on stage. I'm really digging the Willow and Mk.gee stuff for that reason, they're such awesome instrumentalists / vocalists but tasteful at the same time. I think my new material straddles that ‘complexity meets accessibility’ tightrope.
MD: Would you say you’ve changed on a personal level during that time? If so, how?
RFT: Actually, 2024 was one of the most transformative years of my life. Between moving out of my family home and releasing ‘Featherweight’ up against my perfectionism and 1-2 other various curveballs, I’d say that I’ve gained a bit more perspective. On myself, my music, and the people I choose to surround myself with. A career in music can be gruelling if you let it, but awesome and empowering if you know how to tap into your inner drive, needs, creativity and values in a healthy way.
I’m so proud of this record and I’m excited to make something new this year. I’m working on trusting myself, my abilities and my gut! (My mum says my bullsh*t radar has drastically improved, so it must be true).
MD: A brand-new track I have been excited to discover is your rendition of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill. When did you decide you wanted to cover this song? Did you feel any pressure covering such an iconic track?
RFT: After watching Stranger Things! I slept on Kate Bush before that whole 2022 renaissance. I don’t feel too much pressure covering songs. I always approach covers in my own voice so in that sense it’s just like arranging something I would write for myself. I cover songs that trigger some deep feeling in me or songs that I selfishly want to understand more: “I wish I wrote that!”. I dig a challenge to be honest.
MD: Who would be your dream artist (dead or alive) to cover one of your songs?
RFT: Ah! I’d love to hear Willow, Mk.gee or Jacob Collier take on a track of mine. Something with lots of lush vocals!
MD: Another new addition is In a Dream, it's such a beautifully emotional ballad. Can you share what this track means to you?
RFT: 'In a Dream’ is special to me because it was written 8 years ago! It’s written about the beauty we can all find in aloneness. I wanted to really tell a story with the song and turn those feelings of being ‘lost’ into a folk-like tale. I've lived with the track for a long time as you can imagine!
MD: What was the creative process behind In a Dream?
RFT: My bedroom, a £100 condenser microphone, a gorgeous Spanish guitar gifted to me by a family friend, some folky guitar voicing I had just learned and that's about it! I had my head in a London based jazz-folk band called Snowpoet who were undoubtedly an influence. My talented dad added each drum (snare, kick) separately and then we mixed and mastered it ourselves. DIY!
MD: Yes to musical dad's! We love a bit of DIY over here. Throughout Featherweight (Deluxe Edition), you revisit tracks like Hold the Weight (featuring Snarky Puppy’s Michael League), Give & Take, and Twenties and showcase them in new forms. What was the thought process behind reimagining these songs?
RFT: I love making demos. I think the song gets captured in its rawest, freshest and most authentic form at this stage... Sometimes I question the urge to 'clean up' recordings and make them 'release-ready' when these earliest versions have so much vibe and character! So, I guess the Deluxe Edition is my opportunity to share these recordings; in some ways my preferred versions.
MD: What do you hope people take away from Featherweight (Deluxe Edition)?
RFT: Frankly, I hope listeners leave with a desire to come back and listen a second, third, fourth time! I love music that reveals itself more and more over time. New ideas pricking your ears the more you listen, a lyric here, a chord there; the Steely Dans and Joni Mitchells of this world spring to mind. I hope people treat 'Featherweight' as an album they can luxuriate in and spend time with.
MD: Can you describe what it’s like being a female artist in 2025?
RFT: In summary, I'd say it's all to play for. The best piece of music industry advice I've heard is that "no one knows what they're doing"(!) meaning there's no formula or one way to do anything, not in 1985 or 2025, not for women or men, not for labels or indies - it's just one big hustle and you've got to believe that anything can happen for you and your art. To quote our good friend Ms Natasha Bedingfield, "the rest is still unwritten”.
I think it's a hopeful time. As artists, we must focus on what we have got, whether that's skills, network, past achievements, goals, drive or even the roof over our heads. You need to cultivate gratitude as an artist of any background in 2025... and then hustle a hell of a lot!
MD: Complete the following sentences:
The world would be better with…
RFT: More musical genre-blurring, more women in suits and Lewis Taylor coming back to the biz.
The world would be better without…
RFT: Social media (sorry, had to say it!) and any coffee shop that tries to charge me £4 for an oat flat white.
MD: What’s in store for you for the rest of 2025? Anything we should know about!?
RFT: Loads of writing and playing live as much as humanly possible! I’m excited to collaborate with some of my favourite musicians to start putting some new material together for the next record (jazz fusion anyone?). In the coming weeks/months (post-Featherweight 1-year-anni), I’ll be supporting Michael League and Bill Laurance on their UK tour which I’m thrilled about and will be announcing a London show and more soon after!
MD: Any final words for your fans?
RFT: Read more, watch less, and have a gorgeous 2025!
MD: And finally, we have to ask, what’s your favourite “F” word?
RFT: Featherweight
